Plant for casting building components

ABSTRACT

A SEMI-AUTOMATIC PLANT FOR CASTING BUILDING COMPONENTS IN WHICH HORIZONTAL MOULDS HAVING SWINGABLE SIDE WALLS ARE CONVEYED PAST A NUMBER OF STATIONS FOR SHUTTERING, POURING, HARDENING, REMOVING OF THE SHUTTERING AND CLEANING. THE SHUTTERING STATION AND THE STATION FOR REMOVING THE SHUTTERING ARE PROVIDED WITH SWING ARMS DRIVEN BY A COMMON SHAFT AND ADAPTED TO SWING THE SIDE WALLS FROM   A SWUNG-OUT POSITION INTO A SWUNG-UP POSITION AND VICE VERSA. THE SWING ARMS ARE COOPERATING WITH SWINGABLE SPRING BOWS MOUNTED ON THE MOULD BOTTOM AND ADAPTED TO LOCK THE SIDE WALLS IN SWUNG-UP POSITION AND TO CARRY THEM IN SWING-OUT POSITION.

Sept. 20, 1971 HAUBERG 3,605,219

PLANT FOR CASTING BUILDING COMPONENTS Filed July 8. 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet1 a 15 HIII: "m m r 1 J Hill INN m [I L! 7 {A /4- IN VENTOR.

BE-NT HAUBE-RG Sept. 20, 1971 B HAUBERG 3,605,219

PLANT FOR CASTING BUILDING COMPONENTS Filed July 8. 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet2 Fly. 3

e l W hhll i WW I /2 5 W W u INVENTOR.

BENT HAUBERG Sept. 20, 1971 U R 3,605,219

PLANT FOR CASTING BUILDING COMPONENTS Filed July 8, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet3 INVENTOR.

BF-NT' H-A U B E.- R G United States Patent 3,605,219 PLANT FOR CASTINGBUILDING COMPONENTS Bent Hauberg, Birkerod, Denmark, assignor to A.Jespersen 8: Son International A/ S, Copenhagen, Denmark Filed July 8,1968, Ser. No. 743,247 Int. Cl. B28b 7/00 U.S. Cl. -41R 18 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE spring bows mounted on the mould bottom andadapted to lock the side walls in swung-up position and to carry them inswing-out position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relatesto a plant for casting building components, preferably floor slabs ofconcrete, in horizontal moulds having swingable side walls which aresupported by knee plates mounted on and at right angles to, the sidesand which can be retained in their swung-up vertical position by meansof depressing and locking devices and be carried by supporting means ina swung-out position, each mould being adapted to be conveyed past anumber of stations such as a shuttering station, a pouring station, ahardening station, a station for removing the shuttering and withdrawingand cleaning station.

Description of the prior art There are various known designs of mouldswith side walls which are swingabie so that the cast blank can readilybe removed and the mould cleaned, after which the mould is again readyfor use when the side walls have been swung up and locked. These knownmoulds are, however, stationary, and the side walls are swung out, swungup and locked manually, which requires a rather substantial amount oflabour and, in the case of larger cast bodies, necessitates the use ofcranes or similar lifting and transporting devices which may be movedfrom mould to mould as the concrete in the moulds involved has hardenedsufliciently to permit removal of the casting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is the object of the invention to devise aplant of the aforesaid kind which may operate continuously andsemiautomatically so that a continuous, quick production is obtained.This is accomplished according to the invention by swing arms forswinging up, locking, releasing and swinging down the side walls, thesaid swing arms being provided along either side of the path of themould at the shuttering or shuttering removing stations or at bothstations and driven preferably by a common operating mechanism. The saidswing arms cooperate with spring bows mounted on the mould bottom andarranged and formed in such manner that in the swung-up position of themould wall they may be turned above the knee plates and cooperate withthe upper edge of these, which edge is preferably provided with alocking notch, and in such manner that in the lowered, released positionthey are capable of intercepting and supporting the knee plates with theoutward-moving side walls attached to these.

3,605,219 Patented Sept. 20, 1971 To be true, it is known from otherfields of the technique to use spring bows which engage a lid or asimilar object and lock same, but with the use of such spring bows,which cooperate with the said swing arms, it has become possible toperform the swinging of the rather heavy mould walls mechanically andautomatically, which results in quick production with the use of aminimum amount of manual operation. The spring bows engage theoutswinging mould walls in gentle manner and they may, for example, beswingable in a hole that is slender in upward direction and provided ina bracket plate on the outer side of the mould bottom, by which lockingand release of the side Walls may be performed without any appreciablepower consumption, even though rather heavy springs are used.

The release and swinging movement of the mould walls may be performed inthe proper sequence by means of the pawl specified in original claim 2.

At the shuttering station the mould may furthermore quickly andautomatically be made clear for casting, the walls being closed by meansof the closing swing arm specified in original claim 3 and claim 13added by amendment. The roll of the said swing arm presses on the outerside of the wall and prevents wear on the closing swing arm and thewall.

By the stop arrangement specified in original claim 4 and claim 13 addedby amendment the rather heavy side walls are prevented from being swungagainst the mould bottom with undue force, and any tendency of the wallsto spring back into swung-out position is eliminated.

With the embodiment of the locking swing arms at the shuttering stationas specified in original claim 5 a further advantage obtained is fullyautomatic locking of the side walls of the mould after these having beenswung into vertical position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAlVING The invention will now be described indetail with reference to the drawing, in which FIG. 1 shows a shutteringstation in an embodiment of the plant according to the invention, viewedfrom the side,

FIG. 2 a shuttering removing station of the plant according to theinvention, likewise viewed from the side,

FIG. 3 a closing swing arm, mounted at the shuttering station, and itscorresponding operating mechanism,

FIG. 4 shows a cross-section through a mould showing the locking swingarm at the shuttering station and its corresponding driving mechanism,

FIG. 5 one of the swing arms provided at the shuttering removing stationfor releasing and swinging down the side walls of the mould, and

FIG. 6 a spring bow for locking a side wall in vertical position andcatching the wall in its lowered position.

At the shuttering station illustrated in FIG. 1 is a mould, of whichonly a side wall 1 is shown. As will appear from FIG. 4, the side wallis provided with knee plates 2 mounted at right angles to its outerside. The said knee plates 2 are rotatable about a pivot 3 on a bracketprovided on the base of the mould. A driving shaft 4 extends in thelongitudinal direction and in direction of movement of the mould and maybe rotated by means of a cylinder/piston mechanism 5. Attached to thedriving shaft is a number of locking swing arms 6, each carrying a pairof plates 7 so designed that when turned by the rotation of the drivingshaft 4 up against a vertical mould wall 1, they are capable of pressinga spring bow 8 up above and into a notch provided on the upper edge ofthe knee plate 2 (FIG. 4). The spring bow is designed as indicated inFIG. 6 and rests with its inwardly directed legs 9 in oblong holes 10provided in the bracket plates on the side of the wall so that it can beforced slightly upwards when its uppermost rod 11 is to be forced abovethe knee plate 2 and into the notch on its upper edge. The spring bow 8is indicated in its lowered-position by a dotted line in the right-handside of FIG. 4. In this position its bar 11 may seize and support theknee plate 2 when the side wall is swung downwards on removal of theshuttering.

FIG. 3 shows a closing swing arm 12, likewise provided at the shutteringstation, and attached to the driving shaft 4 and carrying a rotatablysupported pressure roll 13 at its upper end. When a lowered side wall 1of the mould is to be turned up into vertical position, the closingswing arm 12 is swung by turning about the driving shaft 4, and the roll13 presses on the outer side of the wall 1, forcing it up towards theshuttering position. An arm 14 projecting from the side wall carries abrake pin 15 which cooperates with an oblique upper edge of the closingswing arm 12 in such manner that the side wall 1 is prevented fromdropping on the mould bottom with a heavy impact, but is braked duringthe latter part of its movement.

FIG. 2 shows a station for removing shuttering, the said station beingadapted to automatically swing down the side walls of the mould after acover plate having been cast and hardened. At the said station areprovided opening swing arms 16 which similarly as the aforesaid swingarms are attached to a driving shaft 4 and driven from a cylinder-pistonmechanism 5'. The swing arms are spaced apart in such manner that theywill be located opposite the knee plates and the spring bows of a mouldwhich is passed to the station. FIG. 5 is a side view of an openingswing arm 16. The said swing arm 16 carries a pawl 17 pivotally mountedin such manner that when the swing arm is passed towards the side wall 1of the mould the said pawl may pass over the spring bow 8 and a crosspin provided on the knee plate which projects from the side wall. As aresult, a notch 18 formed with two gripping edges may pull both the bowand the side wall down into lowered position, in which the spring bowsare swung down as indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 4, the knee plates2 with the side wall 1 resting on the bar 11 of the spring bow.

It will be appreciated that the plant according to the invention is wellsuited for semi-automatic control with the use of a minimum of manualoperation as described in the foregoing, but that, if desired, the plantmay also be operated manually.

I claim:

1. In a mold having a base means, and at least one wall movable betweenan upright position projecting upwardly above the top of the base meansfor forming a portion of the mold and a retracted position outwardly anddownwardly away from the top of the base means, the combinationincluding a first means engage-able with said side wall to move the samefrom said retracted position to said upright position thereof, secondmeans separate from said first means including a spring mechanism forurging and releasably retaining said wall in said upright position andfor supporting said wall in said retracted position thereof and thirdmeans separate from said first and second means engageable with saidwall for moving the same from said upright position thereof to saidretracted position thereof.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said third means includesa pawl member engageable with said wall and said spring mechanism formoving said wall and said spring mechanism outwardly and downwardly intoretracted positions 3. In a mold having a base means and at least onewall movable between on upright position projecting upwardly above thetop of the base means to form a portion of the mold and a retractedlowered position away from the top of the base means; a mechanism forurging and releasably retaining said wall in said upright ositionthereof and for supporting said wall in said retracted position thereofcomprising; a mounting member having a portion thereof connected to saidwall and having another portion movably connected to said base means formovement between a first position holding said wall in said uprightposition thereof and a second retracted position wherein said wall is insaid retracted position thereof, and spring means mounted with respectto said base means for movement between a relatively unstressedretracted position supporting said mounting member in the said retractedposition thereof and a second position engaging said mounting member andreleasably retaining it in said upright position thereof for releasablyretaining said wall in said upright position thereof, and means formoving said spring means between said first and second positionsthereof.

4. The mechanism defined in claim 3 wherein said mounting member andsaid spring means are both pivotally connected with respect to said basestructure for moving between said positions thereof.

5. The mechanism defined in claim 4 wherein said spring means includes aspring having opposite arms pivotally connected to said base means and across-portion interconnecting said arms and engageable with respect tosaid mounting member for urging said mounting member in said uprightposition thereof and for permitting said mounting member to move intosaid retracted position thereof when said spring means is in said secondand first position thereof respectively.

6. The mechanism defined in claim 5 wherein said means for moving saidspring between said first and second positions thereof includes a swinganm engageable with said cross-portion of said spring.

7. The mechanism defined in claim 6 wherein said mounting member is aplate projecting laterally from the wall of the mold and having an outeredge engageable by said cross-portion of said spring, said outer edge ofsaid plate having a recess for receiving said cross-portion of saidspring when said spring is in said second position thereof.

8. In a mold having a base means and at least one wall movable between aretracted position and an upright position projecting upwardly above thetop of the base means to form a portion of the wall, means for movingsaid wall from said retracted position to said upright positionincluding a swing arm mounted with respect to said base means formovement against said wall to move the same into upright positionthereof and for movement away from said wall to permit the same to bemoved to a retracted position, said swing arm having a roller mountedtherein and engageable with said wall, and said wall having a stopprojecting outwardly therefrom and engageable with a portion of saidswing arm to limit outer movement of said wall from said uprightposition to said retracted position thereof.

9. In combination with the mechanism defined in claim 3 means includinga pawl member for moving said mold side wall into said retractedposition thereof, and means for actuating said pawl member.

10. The combination defined in claim 9 wherein said pawl member hasmeans also engaging said spring means for moving the spring means fromsaid upright to said retracted position thereof.

11. The mechanism defined in claim 2 wherein said pawl member has arecess therein for engagement over a portion of said mold wall to movethe same from the upright to the retracted position thereof.

12. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said second means furtherincludes a mounting member having a portion thereof connected to saidwall and having another portion movably connected to said base means formovement between a first position holding said wall in said uprightposition thereof and a second retracted position wherein said wall is insaid retracted position thereof, and wherein said spring mechanismincludes spring means mounted with respect to said base means formovement between a relatively unstressed retracted position supportingsaid mounting member in said retracted posi- 5 tion thereof and a secondposition engaging said mounting member and releasably retaining it insaid upright position thereof, and means for moving said spring meansbetween said first and second positions thereof.

13. The combination defined in claim 12 wherein said spring meansincludes a spring having opposite arms pivotally connected to said basemeans and a cross-portion interconnecting said arms and engageable withrespect to said mounting member for urging said mounting member in saidupright position thereof and for permitting said mounting member to moveinto said retracted position thereof when said spring means is in saidsecond and first positions thereof respectively.

14. The combination defined in claim 13 wherein said means for movingsaid spring between said first and second positions thereof includes aswing arm engageable with said crossportion of said spring.

15. The combination defined in claim 14 wherein said mounting memberprojects laterally from the wall of the mold and has an outer edgeengageable by said crossportion of said spring, said outer edge of saidmounting member having a recess for receiving said cross-portion of saidspring when said spring is in said second position thereof.

16. The combination defined in claim 12 wherein said third meansincludes a pawl member engageable with said wall and spring mechanismfor rnoving said wall and said spring mechanism outwardly and downwardlyinto retracted positions.

17. The combination defined in claim 16 wherein said first meansincludes a swing arm mounted with respect to said base means formovement against said wall to move the same into upright positionthereof and for movement away from said wall to permit the same to bemoved to a retracted position, said swing arm having a roller mountedtherein and engageable with said wall.

1 8. The combination defined in claim 17 wherein said wall has a stopprojecting outwardly therefrom and engageable with a portion of saidswing arm to limit outer movement of said wall from said uprightposition to said retracted position thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 900,272 10/1908 Fish 249-1622,582,161 l/1952 Randall 254l.l 3,116,530 1/1964 Francis 249l7lX FOREIGNPATENTS 1,327,447 4/1963 France 267-155 J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, PrimaryExaminer F D. W. JONES, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

267-455; 249l62; l8-4P

